Four years ago Alec made a commitment to do all he could to secure a re-route of the HS2 branch line originally proposed to plough over Woodlesford on a twenty metre high concrete viaduct and within metres of nearby homes.
Prior to his re-election in May 2015, Alec reaffirmed a pledge to work towards a re-route of the HS2 line and has today delivered part of that commitment as the Department of Transport announced a change to the HS2 branch line.
The route will no longer follow the Aire & Calder Navigation by The Maltings or The Locks and will instead enter a tunnel from the main line and join the existing railway line at the back of the Country Park . For over four years Alec has campaigned with local residents against the original viaduct suggestion and in favour of an alternative tunnelled route, thereby removing the need for imposing viaducts across Woodlesford.
The re-route follows years of waiting after a consultation in which hundreds of people across Woodlesford submitted responses calling for HS2 Ltd to reconsider their plans to route HS2 over the area on concrete viaducts. The result of this consultation is a realignment that will now see the route tunnelled to a depth of 45 metres below (deeper than the deepest underground station under street level in central London) and will remove the previous situation in which hundreds of homes in Woodlesford were blighted by the sight of the branch line viaducts.
The news in Woodlesford is however tempered as no proposed change has been made to the main line route. The main line will continue to follow a route through countryside from Clumpcliffe, to the east of Woodlesford, via Swillington and onto follow the M1 motorway north of Garforth. Alec is disappointed that no similar change has been made for the main line and has reiterated his commitment to work closely with landowners and neighbours who remain affected by the route in order to seek further mitigation, screening and compensation around Methley, Swillington and Garforth.
Over the next few months Alec will be lobbying HS2 Ltd officials for further mitigation and screening around areas affected by the new proposed route and for full assessments to take place across the area to provide evidence-based answers to the many questions that will now arise regarding the tunnelled route. Alec will push HS2 Ltd to present residents with fact-based documentation in relation to similar underground tunneling schemes in the UK and across the world.
The HS2 project was original planned under the previous Labour Government and was then brought forward by the Lib Dem/Conservative Coalition Government in 2010. The HS2 project featured in the manifestos of all parties at the last General Election in 2015 and continues to have cross-party support in the House of Commons and on Leeds City Council.
Detailed maps are available via the Department of Transport here.
An evidence-based report on tunelling in the UK is available here.